Strut Bars

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » February 14th, 2007, 5:00 am

I found this on eBay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/89-98-MX ... dZViewItem

Are the front and rear strut bars basically the same, and interchangeable? I know you need to mod the plastic housings in the back, but other than that, would these work for sure if I bought them? I don't know much about this stuff, but I heard that these strut bars help with steering performance.

Do I need the back one, too? Or is it better with just the front one?[/url]

neutral · Post by **neutral** » February 14th, 2007, 10:14 am

Fr & rr are not interchangeable with each other. Mounting points - h/w & bar shape are different. Fr bar has 4 mounting points per side & the bar is bent in two places to angle over the motor. Rr bar has 2 mounting points per side & the bar is straight. Auction looks like actual pics of the bars and they appear correctly shaped with the correct mounting h/w. I have fr and rr & noticed greatest improvement when I put the fr on. Rr was added later & handling improvement & road feel was definitely improved but not quite as dramatically as when the front went on.

Overall the car handles with a LOT more responsiveness to steering input thru turns and even simple freeway lane changes, front end "bump steer" was eliminated (major prob when I first put on wider wheels/tires), and it goes thru the twisties nice and flat like it's on rails compared to pre-bar installation. Can take curves easily at 55-60+mph that previously could only handle at 40-45mph. Have since installed several other suspension mods but IMO the hands-down absolute best suspension mod for the $ was the strut bars. btw, I have the same ones as in that auction except in a polished finish. Ignore the manufacturer name they list cuz they are all really made by Ractive brand on ebay, cardomain, etc. Have installed them on every car I own with great results. (95 MX-3 RS, 95 Camry, 90 MX-6, 96 626) You'll find more opinions plus install tips if you do a search for keywords <strut> <bar> and select "search for all terms". Very easy installation too. You will love em.

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » February 14th, 2007, 11:16 am

Yeah, I'm not all about the carbon fiber craze that most people seem to have... But I suppose I don't really care, my car isn't a show car or anything. I'll go ahead and buy the bars, thanks for the input!

ryan_Fuerte · Post by **ryan_Fuerte** » February 14th, 2007, 7:18 pm

You know you dont have to get the carbon fiber look ones!! there are like 40 diffrent listongs for our strut bars, you could get polished.

ElectricEnergy · Post by **ElectricEnergy** » February 15th, 2007, 1:34 am

Most the eBay strut bars look pretty skimpy to me compared to the Corksport ones. Although I havn't looked in a few months. Are the eBay ones actually any good? I've heard that they sometimes snap. It is kinda like $40 vs $200 though.

I am also interested in a set, what would you guys recommend?

EDIT: HAHAHA nevermind, if they wan't me to pay $25 for the bars and $160 for shipping I think I'll just go with the corksports thankyou.

facko · Post by **facko** » February 15th, 2007, 1:56 am

i got a corksport front strut bar on my car...that thing is awesome. i didnt think it would make as much of a difference as it did. i remember driving my car w/o it on when i took it for a test drive right after i got my turbo set up done i was a little pissed that i couldnt handle as good lol plus if u get the corksport one u get a badass corksport sticker to rock on ur ride...screw AEM, corksport ftw

PATDIESEL · Post by **PATDIESEL** » February 15th, 2007, 9:25 am

Some MOCA members bought theirs off E-Bay and it is the exact same as the ones I have from CS.

ScooterBovine · Post by **ScooterBovine** » February 15th, 2007, 9:42 am

I guess I'll just put them on and hope they don't snap! Is there any trick to them, or do you just attach them? It appears that they can be tightened or loosened, which would affect how much of an influence they have on your vehicle's performance?

facko · Post by **facko** » February 15th, 2007, 11:40 am

it just bolts on...probably easiest mod ive ever performed

Tunes67 · Post by **Tunes67** » February 15th, 2007, 12:35 pm

Do a bit of searching for strut bars here in the suspension forum Scooter. There have been more than a few posts about these before. You can "Preload" the bar or not for specific driving applications. Tightening the bar one way or another after they are bolted to the strut towers will affect your alignment and how much the bar will stiffen your ride. This is a fairly poor description on my part.. cant really think of a better way to give you an example.. but there are a lot of other threads where folks have discussed this topic at length.. a bit of research now could save you some headaches down the road

Cheers

Tunes67

import_fan7 · Post by **import_fan7** » February 23rd, 2007, 3:22 pm

I got the corksport front strut bar..its pretty awesome noticed a huge diffrence after puttin it on..can't wait to order the rear one ...not sure about ebay ones..ive bought stuff for my car from there and had good luck with stuff ive bought so far..soo good luck if ya do!! also what would help the strut upgrade as well is getting the corksport rear lower tie bar ..i plan on purchasing one soon as well!!!

mowambi · Post by **mowambi** » February 23rd, 2007, 8:26 pm

Now from my experiance... Strut bars dont do that much... Is this a over statement, or does this really improve the reaction / understear?

import_fan7 · Post by **import_fan7** » February 24th, 2007, 1:41 pm

well from my expierience i made a point of driving my car around a bit before putting on my strut bar then after i put it on i drove it again and to me it just seemed to make the steering and overall control of my car a little more stabalized, like the diffrence was enough to notice!

Nd4SpdSe · Post by **Nd4SpdSe** » February 24th, 2007, 5:47 pm

I have both Corksport bars, I noticed a HUGE improvement witht the front, the rear not much actually. I had to take off my front off when I did the ZE swap until we figured out how to get it on (curved-neck IM sits higher) and I missed it. I noticed it really helped to reduce front body roll, reducing understeer, as well as improving steering response.

I dont know how the other brands so, especially the ones on eBay, but obviously the CorkSport ones's are beefier, so should be stiffer and work better.

One test I kinda did is that where was 2 merge ramps i used to take on the way home from my old job. I used to pretty much go as fast as I could, which on the stock suspension and tires wasn't that much, but it did significantly increase the speed in which i cold take the ramp before feeling the tires loosing grip/understeer. I dont remember, been a few years, but I think i was able to take the ramp an extra 10-20km/h compared to stock

lv2xlr8 · Post by **lv2xlr8** » March 4th, 2007, 2:03 am

imo, i would stick to the corksport ones or go to http://www.nopionline.com they have strut bars from a company called number 1 that are like 40 bucks, and i would think they would be a more trustworthy buy than ebay since nopi sells them instead of a guy selling them from his garage.